Battlesuit K
by Glory of Dawn
Summary: Naruto's battlesuit is destroyed when he tries to bring back Sasuke. When false evidence is presented, he is exiled. Soon after that, he finds a redhead mechanic determined to help him, no matter what. NarutoxFemkyuu
1. Enter Naruto Uzumaki: The Red Hunter

**The latest release from me! I know it's not an update to something else, but at least I'm writing, right? Anywhoo, I hope you like this. **

**Only saying this once, don't own Naruto.**

* * *

"Sasuke! Stop right there!"

A sigh came over the comm system. "Why won't you just give up? My new allies have probably already destroyed the rest of your so-called 'rescue' squad."

"I'm not going to let you defect from Konoha! You know what happens to missing pilots when they're found!"

"I'm not going to be found, you fool." Sasuke's battlesuit turned to face Naruto's. "Now that the optics of my battlesuit have been fully enhanced due to my family's Sharingan program, I can use the weapon that fool Kakashi gave me at its full power!" Electricity coated his fist. Sasuke ran forward and drew his arm back, ready to punch.

"Battlesuit, activate thrusters, direction up, fifty-three percent power!" ordered Naruto. He felt his suit's jetpack spark to life, lifting him up and above Sasuke's attack. He came back down and landed on top of his friend. He attempted to punch him, but was blown off by one of Sasuke's shoulder-mounted high-power flamethrowers.

"Naruto, you're even stupider than I thought. I have tons of advanced weaponry, thanks to my Uchiha descent, and you think you can take me on with nothing?" (A/N that always bugged me. Naruto's the main character, and what does he get?)

"I'm going to stop you, Sasuke!" Naruto got back up. "I won't let you do this to yourself!"

Sasuke laughed. "You couldn't stop me if you wanted to." Both of the wicks for his flamethrowers lit. Naruto's battlesuit was consumed in flame. When it stopped, the chassis was mostly fused into one piece.

"And now to finish you off."

This time, the Chidori went right through Naruto's suit. Naruto tried to move, but a message appeared on his HUD.

_Command System Freeze_

_Aw, shit, _he thought. Naruto held his breath; he couldn't do anything like this. Hopefully Sasuke would think he was dead.

With the comms link broken, Sasuke's voice was broadcasted out of his battlesuit's speakers. It was very mechanical-sounding. "That'll teach you for trying to stand up to an Uchiha. Now I only have to kill Itachi and get the Mangekyou program, and I will be unstoppable."

All Naruto could do now was wait for someone to come and get him out of this thing. With the command system frozen and his battlesuit a slab of fused metal, he couldn't get out by himself.

* * *

(Two weeks later)

"So let me get this straight," said Naruto. "You're accusing me of endangering my life, butchering and burning my battlesuit, and letting Sasuke escape so he could go and make one of our enemies, who you also accuse me of being in league with, stronger?"

"In short, yes, those are the charges put against you. How do you plead?"

"How do I plead? I plead that this whole case is bullshit. You have no evidence to support any of that."

"Really now? What do you say to this, then?" A disk was inserted into a playback device.

"_You need to make it look convincing, make it look like he got away even though you tried to stop him."_

"_I can do that. It's not hard. His weaponry will be easy to copy."_

"_Don't forget to mess up the battlefield a bit."_

"_I won't. There'll be plenty of scorch marks. Everyone knows he loves his flamethrowers."_

Naruto could only listen in horror as the conversation went on. He didn't know who the one person was, but the second was him! He never said any of that!

"Congratulations, you have someone who can imitate my voice pretty well. Who is it?"

"Don't think that your tricks will stop us from hanging you as a traitor."

"Actually, you -can't- do that."

"Why not?"

"Because you can't hang a pilot unless there is indisputable evidence that he has committed treason."

"I believe that to be fairly solid."

"My voice could be imitated. Unless you have video records of me doing that, the worst you could do is exile me."

"Oh, so you know how to be a lawyer, too? Or were you supplied with lines from your secret ally?"

"I'm calling bullshit again. I don't even know where you get this idea."

"Well, Mr. Uzumaki, if that is your real name..."

* * *

(One month later)

"Hey, look, it's that guy who got exiled from Konoha. I heard that he killed five pilots and then drug seven more off to be reeducated to fight for some secret organization."

"I heard that he slaughtered three entire squads in cold blood, just to listen to them scream for mercy."

Naruto ignored them. It was the same everywhere he went. There was always some rumor or the other that accused him of some act of treason. He took a swig out of the mug of Iwa-made brew. It didn't matter anyways. He still had enough money to ride him out for another month. He could find a job in that time.

"I heard that someone is just an asshole and wanted him gone."

Naruto turned around. No one had every brought that one up before. The most likely owner of the voice was a redhead that had just entered the building, judging by the distance between her and the bar. She was wearing a mechanic's jumpsuit, complete with the clichéd oil stains. She was fairly attractive. She had good-looking, semi-pale skin. Her face was well shaped; not too angular, yet not too round. Her fiery red hair was done up in a high ponytail, which exited through the back of her baseball cap. She had odd red eyes that sparkled with the pride that she knew more than you about anything that used gears or microchips. Her nose was small. She looked about five foot eight, give or take two inches. She was slim, but not ridiculously so, and had subtle curves. Her hips were sort-of wide, and her legs were long. Last, but not least, she had an ample breast size, yet they stayed proportionate to the rest of her body.

She sat down next to him. "You done checking me out yet?"

"Depends. Which answer saves me from that wrench you have there?"

She laughed. "Haven't heard that one before."

"Yeah, well, lots of firsts seem to happen around me."

"Do they now?"

"First Genin-ranked pilot to make it to Chuunin-rank in a under a year, first pilot to take out a Jonin-rank pilot with no weapon attachments, first pilot to be exiled under a single piece of unreliable evidence...I could go on, but I don't really feel like it."

"Sounds like you're quite the soldier."

"Quite a bit of that was dumb luck. I never had enough money to outfit myself with good weaponry, and all the government-issue stuff that actually worked went to the genius-children of Konoha...one of whom defected seven months after enlistment."

"What about the stuff that didn't work?"

"I tried using a hand-me-down ME3 minigun once. It exploded and took off my battlesuit's right arm."

She snorted. "Konoha must not have many good engineers then."

"None that care about an orphaned soldier trying to make his way in the world. They all want to be the one that gave the well-known pilots the equipment that won the day so that they can become famous. That or they only supply their own families, like the Inuzukas."

She looked at Naruto, sizing him up. He felt as if she was window shopping, and he was a pretty new dress.

...Or, in this case, a shiny new toolbox.

"Howdja like to be a mercenary pilot?"

"That'd be great. Now I just need a battlesuit, programs to run it, and weapons. That'll be...hmmm...about two hundred times more money than I have."

"I can give that stuff to you for a cut of the money from each of your jobs."

"And put myself in debt to you for a few years of my life? No thanks."

"Aw, come on. No one buys my stuff, I got a spare battlesuit I made collecting dust, and I don't charge interest on my loans."

"My answer's still no."

"Don't you want to at least take a look at the goods before you make up your mind?"

"Not in particular."

"I can help you find the guy that got you exiled," she offered in a whisper.

Naruto didn't reply for a moment. "How?" he finally replied in an equally quiet tone.

"I have my sources. It may take a while, but I can figure it out."

"...All right, I'll look at your stuff. If I say yes-"

"When you say yes," she said confidently.  
"-If I say yes, you'll help me find my man. Or woman."

"Or child?" she offered jokingly.

He rolled his eyes. "Or child."

She stood up. "C'mon, follow me. I'll show you to my shop."

Naruto got up and extended his hand. "My name's Naruto Uzumaki."

She looked at his hand hand grinned. She kept walking. "Tsumeki Kyuubi," she called over her shoulder.

* * *

Tsumeki led him into the back of her workshop. He marveled at all the workbenches; they were filled with things, be it scraps, half-completed things, or fully functional battlesuit parts.

At the back, she proudly showed him a battlesuit. It was twelve feet tall, the normal size for most battlesuits. It was painted orange and red, with several blocks of white.

"This is my pride and joy: Battlesuit model K. It's got advanced optical systems, mounts on both the arms and shoulders for weapons, good thrusters, cargo compartments on every limb, which are great for clothes and food, by the way. It also has a magnetic spot on the right and left hips for any melee weapon you choose to use. Inside, it has a brainwave reader. In case you don't know what that does, it means you no longer have to tell the computer to fire the thrusters or the shoulder-mounted weapons. Just think it, and it does it. The best part about this? Unlike that Shinobi-pattern shit you've been using, this baby has a sleep mode. Since I know you have no idea what that means, its got comfortable pads on the inside that, besides just making it heaven to pilot, make it so that you don't have to leave the battlesuit to get a good night's sleep. On top of that, it has a five hundred meter alarm. If anything the battlesuit deems a threat enters that radius, it'll wake you up. If a projectile enters the radius and its trajectory places it at hitting you, the thrusters will fire and send you up in the air, while it wakes you up." Tsumeki's voice was filled with pride as she listed off the functions of her creation.

Naruto let out a low whistle. "That's pretty nice. And you built it from scratch?"

"Of course I did! I'm no amateur!"

He sized it up. "Hmmm. It's good, looks like it has good joints..."

"The best. You could jump off of a cliff with this baby and it could absorb all the shock and not be any worse for wear."

"Mind if I take it for a test run?"

"Sure, go for it." As an afterthought, she added, "Let me throw some weapons on it so you can check it's accuracy and get used to using the brainwave reader."

* * *

"Engine running at one hundred percent power," said Naruto. "Temperature is normal. Weapons integrated with mainframe. Testing thrusters...all readings positive. All systems are green."

"All right Naruto, get moving and see how you like her."

Naruto lifted his left leg to start moving, but fell over when it shot up like a rocket.

"Holy shit!" he yelled.

Tsumeki laughed. "Battlesuit K has a sensitive motor system. Once you figure out how to use it, you'll be twice as fast as any other pilot out there."

Naruto mumbled curses and a few threats as he got up. "All right, let's take this a bit slower..." He got up and practiced moving around a bit. After he was content with his ability to move at a sluggish pace, he started to move a little faster.

"That's right! You're getting the hang of it!"

He moved a just a tad faster, and noted that he was moving the speed of a normal battlesuit. "Pop a target for me."

"Can do." A battlesuit-shaped hologram popped up farther down the range he was practicing on. The targeting reticle with '75mm shoulder RCLR, Left' under it in small print, which designated the gun on his left shoulder, followed Naruto's eye to the hologram's center mass. Naruto wanted it to fire, and it did. The round was a dummy, so nothing blew up, but upon zooming in on the hologram, he saw the large hole that had been punched through his chest, right where he had been aiming. (A/N for all you non-gun people, RCLR stands for 'recoilless rifle')

"Good accuracy," he commented.

"But isn't it?" she gushed. "That targeting program was a bit expensive, but it was -so- worth it. It follows your eyes, you know."

"I noticed. That's very handy. With the little experience I had with weapons and the Shinobi-pattern 'suits, you had to do it by eye."

"They're horrible people. It's a sin against modern technology to outfit soldiers with such shitty battlesuits."

"Pop a few more. I want to try the miniguns out."

Ten holograms appeared. Naruto moved his arms, which had the aforementioned guns mounted on them, to aim at two of them. The targeting reticles showed where his rounds were projected to hit.

"So the targets follow your arm-mounted guns?"

"Mmhmm. That was a whole other program, to get that. Much better than trying to align your eyes and your guns."

"This is probably true." Naruto gripped the bars that his hands were wrapped around. This functioned as the trigger, and the miniguns started firing their dummy rounds. He sprayed them back and forth for a moment before loosening his grip. The tide of rounds ceased.

"My diagnosis? Those guys are -dead-!" exclaimed Tsumeki. She was very excited.

"I have to say one thing, Tsumeki. This 'suit is a piece of work."

"You like it, then?"

"Are you kidding me? I love it! Shinobi-pattern has nothing on this!"

An excited cheer came over the comm system. "All right! I knew you'd think so!"

* * *

Tsumeki had taken Naruto to the second floor of her shop—once more, the clichéd living quarters. They were sitting down in what served as her living room/kitchen.

"So, I have two propositions for you. Pick whichever you fancy more. First, I could give you Battlesuit K, and you can give me a cut from each of your jobs. Or, you give me all the money from your jobs, I support you, buy your food and all that, and I'll use the money left over after the necessities to buy you better gear for Battlesuit K. When you're content that Battlesuit K is the baddest bitch on this side of the planet, you can tell me so, and I'll stop buying you stuff. You pay off the rest of your debt to me and we go our separate ways." She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "So which is it gonna be?"

Naruto didn't respond for a while. He was thinking heavily on it.

Tsumeki waited for about five minutes before she got sick of the silence. "Hello? Anybody home?"

"I'll go with the second one."

She grinned. "I was hoping you'd say that." She leaped out of her seat and ran to her computer. Naruto walked up to her as she typed furiously.

"You'll need an alias," she said suddenly.

"What? Why?"

"Because -all- mercenaries have an alias, whether it's a group name or a personal name. And you also might have trouble getting work as the legendary exile of Konoha."  
"Point taken."  
"So? What do you want?"

Naruto stared at the computer screen blankly for a moment. He briefly thought about an encounter he'd had with a foreigner a long time ago, and the language he spoke...

"The Red Hunter," he said.

"Red Hunter...I like it. Good name for the pilot of Battlesuit K." She typed that into the computer. "I like red," she murmured as she pressed enter.

* * *

"This shouldn't be too hard," he said as he walked into the town. "Just deal with some bandits. Tsumeki said they numbered twenty with three battlesuits."

Naruto was excited. This was his first job. Some bandits were ruling a town with an iron fist. The local government couldn't do a thing about it, and the army wasn't making any move to help. He needed to wipe the troublemakers out.

As he passed by some houses, he noted families looking out at him.

"He's here," said one.

"That must be the merc the mayor hired!" said another.

Naruto entered the town square. All of the bandits seemed to be congregated there. Of the three battlesuits, two were active. They were guarding one who Naruto presumed to be the leader and the pilot of the third 'suit.

"Hey!" yelled the leader. "What the hell? What are you doing here?"

Naruto didn't glorify him with a response.

"Answer me or get the fuck out of my town!"

"It's not your town," Naruto finally replied.

The recoilless rifle on his shoulder fired. It blew a hole into one of the battlesuits. Naruto saw the bloody remains of the pilot inside. He fired the miniguns on his arms at the second 'suit. It gunned its thrusters and slid to the side. It came at him, drawing a hammer crackling with electricity. Naruto jumped up and drew his sword from his right hip. As he came down, he split the battlesuit's head down the middle. The blood on his sword as he withdrew it told him that he killed the pilot as well.

"That's what you get for piloting Mk 1.5 pieces of horse shit," he mused. Mk 1.5 was the second model of battlesuit ever made. They were good for their time, but they couldn't stand up to anything made by Tsumeki. She was a mechanical genius. Naruto put the sword back.

He saw one of the bandits raising an anti-battlesuit rifle to bear. One burst from a minigun silenced him. He continued to cover the area with lead until all the infantry were dead.

"Well, that was an easy job." As he looked around, he noticed the third 'suit was gone. "Dammit," he swore, trying to locate it.

"Up here, asshole!"

Naruto looked up and saw it. The leader was maintaining flight. He was never good at aerial combat, and his RCLR wouldn't aim that high. His miniguns probably wouldn't help much, seeing as that was a Mk 2, a model known more for its maneuverability than anything else. Naruto would just have to trust Tsumeki's workmanship and hope like hell he could keep up with that thing. His thrusters activated and he climbed to the sky.  
"You're trying to take on a Mk 2 in air combat? What a fool you are!"

Naruto ignored the taunt and tried to get his RCLR to lock on to his opponent, who was buzzing around like a fly. (A/N note that Naruto only has one shoulder-mounted weapon atm.) In the meantime, he used his miniguns to try to take him down.

The leaders right arm weapon began to glow.

_Fuck, plasma!_ Naruto cut his jetpack to drop under the shot. His enemy laughed and continued to fire blobs of molten energy at him. Naruto continued to dodge and return fire. After a full minute of this, he got an idea. He pretended to be out of ammo for his miniguns, and drew his sword. The bursts of plasma started to come a little faster, and were accompanied by a laugh from the other 'suits speakers. For one dodge, Naruto moved too much, and his sword flew out of his hand.

"I got you!" His opponent flew in and crashed into Naruto, grappling with him. He smirked. Naruto ripped off the enemy battlesuit's head, revealing the pilot, who ducked inside. He stuck one of his miniguns in the hole he created and pulled the trigger.

The bandit leader fell back to the ground and crashed. Naruto landed much more gracefully.

Many townsfolk made their way into the square. "Thank you so much," said the one in the lead, whom was presumed to be the mayor. Battlesuit K opened its chestplate, revealing Naruto, who wore a red bandanna to cover the lower half of his face. He jumped out of the battlesuit. Naruto was wearing his pilot's outfit—a black tank top-like chest protectore and flat black pants.

"No problem."

"Here is your promised payment." He was handed a small device. Naruto accessed it and looked at the amount of money coded into it. It was the amount that he had been told he'd receive.

"Thanks much, sir."

"We will call upon you again if we ever need your help, Red Hunter."

"I'd hope so." Naruto climbed back into Battlesuit K. Before the chest panel shut again, he waved. "Ciao."

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed it! Mind telling me what you thought about it in a review? I hope you will!**

**'Till next time!**


	2. Solanum

**Wow! I'm so happy that this was so well received! Your reviews (usually) fill me with inspiration and the drive to continue writing! THIS NEXT PART IS IMPORTANT. READ IT.**

**A few things I want to clear up. All of the world's money has been standardized to USD (and if you don't know what that means, you should probably go and look it up). For a description of the battlesuits, most look like a version of the Tau Crisis Battlesuit (look it up), except that it looks more human. Inside the cockpit is like this: you put your right arm into the 'suits right arm, left to the left, etc. When you move your arm or leg, the corresponding limb on the 'suit moves. Some suits are more motor-sensitive than others, like Battlesuit K. If Naruto piloted it like a Shinobi-pattern 'suit, he'd fall down. Also, something I went over with my cousin, it's called 'Battlesuit K' only because it is the 11th model that Tsumeki has made. Others are the Mk 1, Mk 2, Shinobi-pattern, etc. etc.**

**Hope that answers any questions you may have had, and sorry it was such a long AN!**

* * *

A TV-like screen appeared in front of Naruto. It showed Tsumeki's face and the things the camera caught behind her.

"So? How'd it go?"

"It was a dead end. I didn't find anything out."

"Awwww. I'm sorry, I thought he'd be able to help you figure out who got you exiled."

"Don't worry about it."

"Well, come on back to the shop. I got loads of stuff to show you—my orders all came in while you were gone."

"Is it stuff I'm going to like?"

Tsumeki grinned. "You haven't the slightest idea."

He laughed. "All right, I'll be back soon. See you then."

"Bye."

The screen disappeared and Naruto activated his thrusters.

* * *

"All right, so what did you get?"

"We'll start off with this baby." Tsumeki held up an object about the size of a small wastebasket. It had a black frame with blueish white energy inside. "This is an antimatter engine. This one is stable as far as they go, so it isn't likely to explode randomly—probably a 1.337 percent chance that a large energy drain will destabilize it enough for it to detonate, with large energy drain meaning 75 percent power or more lost at once. Before you ask, yes, that can happen easily, especially if the bastard shooting at you is using EMP."

"1.337? How'd you come up with that?"

"Well, most antimatter engines are about a fifty-fifty chance to blow up when a bunch of energy is used at once. The more stable ones are about twenty five percent. This one is as stable as they come, so I figure...well, you get the idea."

Naruto nodded. "So, why would I take this over my current engine if the only difference is that this one likes to blow up?"

Her eyes danced. "This gives off triple the energy output that your current engine does. Plus, it also makes any energy weapons you get more powerful by the same amount, because they draw a percentage of the engine's power for their attacks, be it projectile or CQB."

"That's really good."

"But isn't it?" she moved on to the next pile of items on the table. "When I heard the rumors about Solanum becoming more of a problem, I invested in these. Two heavy flamethrowers, fusion style. Instead of napalm or whatever fuel you may prefer, it takes off of your engine. Then we got a V9 rocket system. Twenty-seven 60mm incendiary rockets arranged ingeniously so that you have nine up front at a time. Once those nine are gone, the part of the weapon they were launched from is moved to the back, allowing nine more to be fired. It's meant for shoulder mounting." Holding up a small disk, she said, "This is a medical diagnostic program. It can identify any diseases in a human by the viruses or bacteria that are present."

She moved down the line again. "This piece of art is a twin-linked 30mm plasma minigun." It looked like a normal minigun, except for one thing. Two miniguns were attached to the same platform, which then could be mounted to a single port on a battlesuit. "Twice the fire rate, twice the power consumption, twice the killing spree. She's good for anything you want to use her for. Just make sure to mount her on a shoulder, because you'll lose a lot of maneuverability on your arm if you put her there."

Tsumeki held up a small object next to the guns. "This is a music player. I've already taken the liberty of downloading my entire music library onto it. You can add more whenever."

She moved once more and placed her hands on...nothing? Upon closer inspection, Naruto noticed that there was a large, transparent block of something under her palms.

"This is TempNu metal—that stand for 'Temperature Neutral', in case you didn't know. One thin coat of this is enough to serve its purpose. A 'suit coated in this could be baked for five minutes straight by Uchiha-style flamethrowers and come out no hotter than it came in. On the other side of the spectrum, if you fell into the Arctic Ocean, you could have sex with your battlesuit after you got out and not get cold on top of it."

"You're the only one who would have sex with a machine, Tsumeki."

"You'd be surprised. Most brothel girls nowadays are mechanical."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I made the skeletons for a few of them, once."

"That's...wrong. On so many levels."

She shrugged. "Gotta make money somehow. Anyways, it'll only take about a quarter of this to give your battlesuit a good coat. The rest will be for your weapons."

"Why'd you get so much? You probably won't use the rest of it for a long, long time."

"It was in the bargain bin at 'Battlesuits R Us'", she said sarcastically.

"Oh, right. I should have known."

"In all seriousness, it was really cheap. The guy I got it from always has good deals."

"Is he reliable?"

"Yeah, he is."

"All right then, so long as it isn't me that's paying the price for him being a liar."

"Oh, that reminds me..." Tsumeki turned around and rummaged through a drawer. When she turned back, she was holding a pistol and an ovular object.

The concern was evident in her voice, as was the fact that she was trying to mask it. "Here, a pistol and a LAPB-2 (A/N pronounced 'lap-bee'). The pistol's good for a hundred shots before it needs to charge for ten minutes. Press the button on this and it becomes a sword." She demonstrated. The top half of the object split in half and turned into a handguard. A plasma blade about three and a half feet long emerged from the handle. (A/N also, if I haven't mentioned, plasma is blue here.) She pressed the button again and it went back to being an oval of metal. She put the two weapons in Naruto's hands. "Make sure you keep them on you whenever you're out of your 'suit." After she said this, her voice went back to mostly normal. "After all, that'd be a hell of an obituary. 'The Red Hunter, the legendary battlesuit-piloting mercenary, was killed yesterday. He was caught outside of his 'suit, jacking off with his pants way down around his ankles. It is reported that he yelled 'Tsumeki' in a loud voice shortly before being found.'"

"Don't flatter yourself."

"You know you can't resist my amazing body, dashing good looks, and wonderful personality. You want me bad, battlesuit boy."

"You just can't quit with the sex jokes, can you?"

She patted him on the cheek. "What are friends for?" She turned around and grabbed a few of the things she had bought for him. "I'm going to go install this stuff for you now. Be grateful!" she called over her shoulder.

* * *

(Early next morning)

"Naruto!"  
"Eeeuuggghhnn...five more minutes!"

His door burst open. "Naruto, get up now!"

"Five more minutes, just leave me alone for five more minutes..."

"Naruto! Get the fuck out of your bed, you stupid dumbass!"

"That's a double negative...you just called me smart..."

He heard a huff, and then a foot came into contact with his rear, sending him rolling off of his bed. "Now is not the time to be a smartass! Someone's infected half of the Land of Earth's blood banks with Solanum!"

Naruto sprang up. "You're kidding!"

"Is this something I would kid about?!" she screamed at him. "This is a really fucking serious matter, Naruto! You've been hired by the Tsuchikage to purge as many of the villages as you can, saving any non-infected survivors!"

"Purge?" Naruto was surprised at her using that word.

"The man's own fucking words! I've put food in your cargo compartments and set you up with the flamers and the missile launcher! Now get moving!"

Naruto, having fallen asleep in his pilot's suit, simply grabbed his pistol and LAPB-2 and made a mad dash to Battlesuit K.

* * *

Naruto landed with a loud noise in the town square of the first village he had come across. He looked around.

"And not a zombie in sight..." he mused.

Naruto turned on the loudspeakers. "Hey! All you zombies! The Red Hunter has set up his food stand in the town square! What's on the menu, you ask?" He lit the wicks of his flamethrowers as the first of the undead emerged from the buildings around him. "The smoldering corpses of you and your pals!" He fired and incinerated the first wave. He continued to light them up for about a minute before they stopped coming.

"That's not all of them... Computer, play song 'Dead Inside' by artist 'Skillet'. Full volume on all external speakers, half volume on internal speakers."

The song began to blare over the small town, and a fresh wave of zombies came, attracted by the noise and the promise of human presence.

Naruto heard loud, crashing footsteps behind him. "It's only been a few hours!" he said, shocked, as he turned around. "Some of them have already evolved into the big nasties?!"

He fired one of his rockets. It hit the large zombie and punched a hole through its head. The remains hit the ground, burning up from the flammable agent inside of the missile.

As he turned back around, the computer alerted him of increased weight on the legs. Naruto looked down and saw zombies climbing up his 'suit.

"Not if I have anything to say about it." He spun on his heel, with one thruster activated. The zombies were quickly thrown off. Naruto continued to spin for a moment, his weapons spewing fiery death to all those surrounding him.

"Woah... little dizzy...let's not do that again any time soon." When Naruto's vision re-aligned, he noted that there were no more zombies. "Computer, scan the area and diagnose the amount of ashes, putting it up against the recorded population of this town."

When the results came in, he saw that there should be about twenty-eight left. After waiting a few minutes, he decided that they were all survivors.

"All survivors! The virus in this town has been cleansed! Come to the town square!"

Naruto was right. There were twenty-eight survivors. He ran the medical diagnostic program. One of them had a strain of the flu, and another had strep throat. No one was infected, though.

"I'm going to take you guys out of here. Stay close to me and don't be afraid to use those weapons you have there."

He walked slowly forward, actively looking for more zombies. The survivors followed him, gingerly stepping through the ashes of those that used to be their friends.

* * *

"Four villages. FOUR. By ONE person. You said the tank mutation would be enough to handle any battlesuits that came to stop the spread of the Solanum!"

"I'm sorry, Master. The Red Hunter is much more adept than we thought. He came fully prepared to deal with the infection. He even had special missiles to deal with our tanks."

"I don't care how adept he is, I want him DEAD!"

A new voice joined in. "If you want someone like him dead, you'll want to send me, instead of relying on some scientist's freaks of nature."

The first person thought. "You are right. Zombies are enough to deal with most ordinary people, but someone as powerful as the Red Hunter needs a special touch... Do we know where he's going next?"

"Yes sir, the pattern he is moving in suggests--"

"Good. Find the next village he'll be in. Wait for him to engage the zombies. When he is occupied, attack him. He will be overrun and then we will dispose of him and take his battlesuit."

"Yes, m'lord," said the other two.

"Oh, and Sasuke?"

"Yes?"

"Make sure to coat your battlesuit in the repellent. It would be unfortunate if the zombies killed you because you forgot."

"Of course. I will bring you his head before tomorrow night is over."

"Do not fail me."

"I'm an Uchiha. Failure doesn't come to me."

* * *

**Cocky little bastard, ain't he? By the way, Solanum is what the zombie virus is called in 'The Zombie Survival Guide', by Max Brooks. I may or may not be using more stuff from that book, so don't grill me on any inaccuracies pertaining to it. Review please!**


	3. Ambush!

**I'm back! Would've updated sooner, but I just got an xbox 360 and left 4 dead 2...I'm only human...and what sane human can resist nonstop apocalyptic-level zombie slaying madness?**

* * *

"This is the last village. Don't worry, Tsu, it'll take me half an hour tops to clear it and another hour or two to get any survivors to safety. I have seven missiles left, and the most tanks I've seen in a single town is four. All my systems are running green. I'll be fine."

"Naruto, the army is almost there. They can take care of it. You haven't been home for eight days, and I only packed a week's worth of rations in your cargo."

"Every minute wasted is another survivor that could become infected. Plus, the army brings foot soldiers, and they have their own casualties."

"..." She sighed. "I'm not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?"

"You can try again when hell freezes over, if you'd like."

Tsumeki barked a laugh. "Yeah, whatever. Just come back in one piece, or I'm gonna tear you a new one, a'right?"

"Yeah, yeah. Stop being such a grandma."

She huffed. "Maybe I'll pack your rations short next time, see how you like that."

"Love you too, honey."

Tsumeki's image blinked out.

Naruto chuckled and hit his thrusters, flying over the buildings and into the town square.

"_WARNING! WARNING! Unidentified battlesuits present in the area! One Shinobi-pattern battlesuit, three unknown models!"_

"You're kidding me! I'm not equipped to fight other 'suits!" Naruto looked around. "I don't see anything..."

"_Pilot unable to confirm threat. Enabling thermal optic mode."_

"I have a thermal mode?"

The HUD turned multicolored. Most everything was blue, cold. He saw ten human-sized heat signatures in a building, with flashes of heat going off in front of them. They were shooting at something, presumably zombies.

"That's no good, I can't see zombies in this mode. Better keep that in mind in the future."

There were four battlesuits, like the computer had said. They had him surrounded, but they weren't moving.

_This might be an ambush, _he thought. _I should play zombie hunter for now, see what they do._

"Deactivate thermal optic mode. Play song 'Faint' by artist 'Linkin Park'." On the speakers he shouted, "Come on, you yellow undead bastards! Come and get me!" He lit the wicks for his flamethrowers.

The undead came in waves. He began to turn them to ash, as he usually did. The battlesuits made no move, at first. When the first thundering charge of a tank became audible, they jumped into the square.

"Red Hunter, surrender now and we will only make you a zombie." The voice came from the Shinobi-pattern 'suit.

_Well I'll be a son of a bitch,_ Naruto thought. _That sounds like Sasuke._ He shot two missiles at the tank, killing it.

"Where I come from, it's polite to introduce yourself before you threaten somebody's life."

"Aren't you a joker," said the one behind the shinobi-pattern. This one was a woman.

"I like to think so." Naruto torched a few zombies that come too close to him.

"Do you surrender, Red Hunter?" asked the Shinobi again.

"Hmmm...can I get back to you on that one? I'm kinda busy destroying zombies at the moment."

"I will ask one more time. Do you surrender?"

_Yeah, that's definitely Sasuke. I recognize his voice now._

"I don't think you want to have your reputation as the first person to graduate the Konoha Battlesuit Piloting Academy with a perfect grade to be tarnished by being behind the dead-last...again. Oh, that irritates you, doesn't it? Reminds you of when I showed you up when we were defending the bridge builder?"

"...Uzumaki. I should have known as much. Open fire."

Sasuke flew up, and the woman shot some small-caliber missiles at him.

"Are you really insulting me with 30mm rocket-turds?" Naruto blew them up with a single blast of fire.

He drew his sword and leaned forward, activating his thrusters. He shot forward, sliding across the pavement like a professional skater on ice, and lopped off her left leg. One of the others tried to rake him with a minigun, but Naruto ducked behind one of enemy 'suits, forcing him to take the hits.

"Hey! Bastard! Don't use me for cover!" The pilot drew his sword, which Naruto recognized as the sword of the AWOL pilot Zabuza, who he had been forced to kill on the bridge mission.

"Oh boy. Better avoid that thing, it'll mess up my armor plating bad..." Naruto mumbled.

The sword flew at Naruto, who powerslid backwards. He tripped over the woman's 'suit.

"Sunuvabitch!" he yelled.

Naruto used his sword to push himself up faster. It happened to pierce the side of the woman's battlesuit. As he jumped away, he noticed a blue-white glow peeking out from the hole he had just made.

"Well hello, antimatter engine..." he locked onto that spot with one of his missiles and fired. All of the other pilots moved far away from her.

There was a blinding flash of white and blue fire, and it rapidly expanded outwards. Just before it reached Naruto, it shrank back into itself and disappeared.

"That...did not look fun."

One of the battlesuits, the only one he had not engaged, charged him. A feral roar came from its speakers. There were no visible weapons on the 'suit. However, when the ground shattered underneath an attack Naruto dodged, he realized that with all the brute strength in that 'suit, weapons weren't necessary.

Of course, they were always helpful.

Three more of Naruto's missiles shot out towards his enemy. The fire washed right over it.

"TempNu coating, wonderful."

Naruto was going to have to get in close to deal with this guy. That wouldn't be fun. He dodged another attack and shoved his sword through his opponent's thruster pack. The small explosion that resulted from it did nothing to the battlesuit's armor.

"Computer, activate distress beacon."

Naruto saw the sword coming, almost too late. By reflex, he moved as fast as he could. Unfortunately, he wasn't in a Shinobi-pattern 'suit anymore. The oversensitive motor system caused him to fly head over heels into Sasuke.

"Idiot! What the hell was that?" roared the black-haired pilot. "Can't even pilot your own battlesuit properly?"

Naruto, his face red, didn't respond. His battlesuit alerted him that the no-weapons 'suit was coming up for him. He hesitated, chuckling as Sasuke struggled to get Naruto off of him. Right before the punch landed, Naruto activated one thruster to full power and rolled off of him. The chest of Sasuke's 'suit was dented in severely.

As Sasuke spewed curses at his teammate, Naruto went after the swordsman. He drew his blade back for an attack. As he swung in, his enemy rose his own weapon and blocked Naruto's swing. The latter's sword shattered on impact.

"Fuck," said Naruto. "That is -not- good."

With no weapons that could affect the armor of his adversaries, Naruto prepared to flee. At that moment, twelve Iwa battlesuits landed in the square.

"Unidentified battlesuits! Surrender now or be destroyed!"

"Go screw yourself!" yelled Sasuke. He gunned his thrusters and took off. His two remaining squad members followed.

"Wow," said Naruto, "three whole squads."

"Our commander figured that whatever was causing the Red Hunter enough trouble to activate a distress beacon must have been bad. It appears you aren't all you're said to be."

"Not my fault. They jumped me while I was equipped for battling undead, and they all had TempNu on their armor. I couldn't damage them with anything but this…when it was still in one piece, anyways." Naruto held up the handle-and-half-blade that remained after his swordfight.

There was no response. The blonde pilot assumed they were all laughing at him.

"Go home, Red Hunter. We can take it from here."

"All right. G'luck to you all."

The battlesuits just turned around and began to clear out the town.

Naruto called Tsumeki. Her screen appeared right where it usually did.

"Hello, Tsumeki's Mechanical shop, whatever you need, I can—Oh. Hi Naruto!"

"Hey Tsumeki. I'm coming home. Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"Make a trip to McDonald's. When I get back, I am going to be a one-man cheeseburger apocalypse."

* * *

Tsumeki sighed. "You broke the sword?"

Naruto gulped down another cheeseburger. "No, the other guy's sword broke my sword. It was a Seven Swordsman blade; I can't compete with that."

Now she whistled. "You fought with one of the Seven Swordsman and lived?"

"No, he just had the blade of one. I did kill the original owner, though."

"When?"

"Back when I first joined the military back in Konoha."

"With a Shinobi-pattern?"

"Yep."  
"Impressive! You'll have to tell me about it sometime, because boy do I have some nice stuff for you."

"Like what?"

"Like you won't believe."

Tsumeki led him into the shop. On one of the tables was two items. She held up the first, which just looked like a battlesuit-sized bracelet.

"This was a little invention made by the Fourth Hokage before he got assassinated. Only three ever came into existence, and one went out with him in the explosion. It's called the Rasengan, and boy is it nice. It creates a plasma drill around one of your hands, which will go through just about anything you need to go through. I don't know how to use it, but I have no doubt that you'll figure it out." She set that down and picked up a round, ring-shaped object.

"This goes on your engine. It's an output enhancer, but you'll never guess what type it is."

"Seeing as I've never heard of them, no, I wouldn't."

"It's a Bijuu-class. Kitsune-pattern, to be precise."

"And that means?"

She sighed. "I go through all of this trouble to get one-of-a-kind equipment for you, and you just ask what it is. I'm hurt."  
"There's really not much I can do about that."

"Whatever. The Bijuu-class enhancers are the most powerful ever made. There are nine models, and only one of each was produced. Their power is expressed in 'tails'. Don't ask me why, because I have absolutely no idea. The Kitsune-pattern has nine tails; it's the last model."

"How'd you get your hands on something like that?"

"Well, you got approximately 1.2 billion for saving as many villages as you did, and almost every penny of it went towards this. The Rasengan I got cheaply, because the guy selling it had no idea what it was."

"I only saved fifteen. And most of them took me all of ten minutes to clear out." (A/N which is why he was ambushed at the last village.)

"The Tsuchikage pays well, I suppose. One thing you need to know about the output enhancer: it will take a while before your engine can take all nine tails of power. Right now, it'll probably be good for one tail every now and then. The computer will let you know how many tails are available and how often you can use the latest tail safely. That's not to say that you can't use all nine; you'll probably just die in the explosion."

"That's nice." Naruto got up began to walk away.  
"Hey!" Tsumeki yelled after him. "Aren't you going to clean that up?" she pointed at the ten McDonald's bags he had left behind.

"I'll get to it. I gotta go to the bathroom."

She shook her head. "Thanks for sharing," she said, going to go tinker with a half-finished component.

* * *

**Sorry this was so short. I intend to have the next chapter be a bit longer, I hope that works out. Till next time! Review please, it's much appreciated!**


	4. A Mission from Kumo

**Crap. Crap, crap, crap. I was rereading the other 3 chapters, and I realized that I had forgotten that I gave Naruto the twin-linked guns for the zombie infection. That just...rargh! I can't believe I was so stupid not to reread chapter 2 before I wrote 3! I went back and changed it. Sorry about that!**

* * *

Naruto tried for what seemed like the millionth time to get the Rasengan to work. Every time, it formed into the drill, but when he tried to get it to spin, it would short out and he'd have to completely reboot the weapon's system to try again.

"Tsumeki, have you the slightest idea how this thing works?"

"Yeah. Apply power. Hope it works."  
"Really reliable weapon you got me here, thanks."

"You're welcome!" There was a beep over the comm, and then a pause. "Hey, Naruto, check this out..." A block of text appeared before him. It read:

_'To The Red Hunter, Mercenary Battlesuit pilot,_

_ It has come to my attention that you have recently aided the Tsuchikage by clearing villages infected with Solanum. I have gained information regarding those who infected the blood banks with the virus. We have located their base of operations, and I am willing to offer you five million in USD to go with one of our Jounin pilots to investigate. You will be provided with a stealth system and engine silencers, which you may keep should you complete the mission successfully. If you do not wish for our engineers to install them, you may bring your own mechanic. Please reply as soon as possible with your answer._

_ The Raikage_

"Five million dollars? Quite a price for a scouting mission."

"It might not be scouting. Do you want to take it?"

"Yeah, I'll take it. I know Sasuke is linked to this somehow; if all goes well, I might be able to snag him, too."

There was another pause. "Yeah, he's got a nice return fee on him. Five hundred grand, offered up by the Hokage…"

"Is something wrong?"

"It doesn't say 'Tsunade' after Hokage. It says 'Danzou'. You have any clue who that is, or maybe when that happened?"

"I don't know when that came about, but Danzou's a hawk. He wants to go to war with everybody to expand the borders. Got his own little division of Anbu pilots working for him, too. Wouldn't surprise me if he just started an open rebellion because Tsunade wasn't doing what he wanted."

"I see…"

"I don't plan on doing anything about it. Konoha's business is Konoha's business, not mine."

"Right. So, when are you heading off?"

"Whenever you're ready. I need my mechanic to install the stealth system, don't I?"

Naruto could practically hear her grin. "That you do. You get Battlesuit K put away and load up the crate on the trailer. I'll get the car started."

* * *

Naruto sat in the passenger seat of the car. It glided effortlessly about five feet over the rocky surface of the ground, with the trailer hovering obediently behind it.

"So, the Village Hidden in the Clouds is—get this—actually hidden in the clouds!" said Tsumeki.

"Your point? Konoha is the 'Village Hidden in the Leaves', and it's in a forest."

"Yeah, but you actually can't see it until you break the cloud cover! Isn't this exciting? I hear they have really good pulse cannons there, and some nice sniper rifles too!"

"You're getting overexcited about their technology."

Tsumeki looked at him. "Naruto? You know how a lot of little girls sleep with a stuffed animal?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"I slept with a mechanical arm that my dad helped me make."

"...Well, that's not weird at all."

"Oh? What about your little frog wallet? You carry that thing around, and we don't even -use- paper currency anymore."

"Yeah, well...that's different."

"How so?"

"It's a good luck charm."  
"A frog wallet."

"Yes."

"You're crazy, Naruto."

"Yeah, but that's why you keep me around."

"You wish. I keep you here because you pay the bills."

"Oh, well, in that case..." Naruto faked like he was going to open the car door and jump out, but the car suddenly started going up at a forty-five degree angle.

"The city is right up there," she commented.

"Thanks for the warning, I almost fell out!"

"Who's fault is that?"

"...Be quiet."

* * *

The Village Hidden in the Clouds was a fantastic place. The buildings all gleamed golden in the sunlight, the canals snaked through the ground while shining bronze in the late afternoon sun, and most importantly, there was no man-made cloud cover, namely smog.

"Tsumeki! Focus! You can go on your shopping spree after we talk to the Raikage!"

"But...the sniper rifles! Someone might buy them before we get back!"

"No one is going to buy them all while we're seeing the Raikage."

"But they might buy all the good ones!"

"Then you can take a bad one and make it the best the world has ever seen."

Her eyes glinted. "That'd be amazing! Me, becoming a famous weapons designer!"

"And it could all start by us going to see the Raikage right now."

"Well then why are you waiting? Geez, Naruto, way to hold us up! I told you we should just go to the Raikage! C'mon!"

As the car accelerated, Naruto pondered about how Tsumeki could have her entire train of thought turned around with the mention of becoming famous due to her passion.

* * *

"...and Yaroshin will accompany you. Do you find this to be an acceptable arrangement?"

"I don't see any issues with it, no."

"Good. Is your mechanic almost done installing--"

The door slid open, revealing Tsumeki hoisting a backpack doubtlessly filled with tools. "Well, thanks to that piece of art, Battlesuit K has got no room left for inside machinery. As it is, I had to move some stuff around to fit it in."

Before the door shut, a man in a black pilot suit slid in.

"Ah, Yaroshin!" said the Raikage. "Just in time! This is the Red Hunter, the one you'll be doing the mission with."

Yaroshin did a slight bow. "An honor to meet one as famous and infamous as yourself."

Naruto laughed. "Nice to meet you too, Yaroshin."

"Most people call me Yaro or Yar. You know, 'Yaaar', like a pirate or something." He joined Naruto in laughing.

The Raikage chuckled as well. "You two should get going as soon as possible, before our intel becomes outdated. Yaroshin, make sure Naruto gets a sniper rifle. You'll both need one."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Naruto whistled when he saw Yaro's steel-gray battlesuit. "Looks like an Assassin-Pattern. That the new Mk 6?"

"Mk 6.25, actually. It's my own baby. Made a bunch of modifications to it myself."

Naruto climbed into Battlesuit K and shut the cockpit. As his systems booted up, he noticed the nine tails at the corner of one of his screens again. He opened a private channel with Tsumeki.

"Hey, Tsu?"

"Yeah?"

"How do I activate the output enhancer?"

"...Good question. Let me know if you figure it out."

Naruto sighed. "Thanks. You're a huge help."

* * *

Yaro motioned for Naruto to move forward. They were inside the enemy base. There was no sign of life.

"I think we've arrived too late," said Naruto.

"Perhaps."

As they continued on, their stealth systems making them invisible to all but those who were looking intently, they stepped on a giant pressure plate. The ceiling opened up and deposited a foul-looking, green substance.

"Ah! I can't see shit!" said Yaro.

"All I -can- see is shit!" Naruto replied.

The walls opened, letting out a small horde of zombies. Naruto quickly dispensed of them with the flamethrower he still had on his 'suit.

"That thing have TempNu?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah, why?"

Naruto shot his flamethrower at Yaro's 'suit. The green substance was burned up. Yaro returned the favor with a battlesuit-size incendiary grenade.

The moved on again. They encountered no more zombies, nor any guards, 'suit-mounted or otherwise.

The hallway they were in opened up into a large room. They looked in, and saw that they were going to be on a catwalk. They looked down, and saw it was filled with scientists and their equipment.

"Destroy it," said Yaro.

"Way ahead of you." Naruto was locking onto all of the important-looking stuff in the room. When he was sure that he was done finding everything, he fired his special missiles. The equipment was destroyed by shrapnel and fire, while the scientists were gunned down by a machine gun mounted on Yaro's left forearm.

"Let's move."

They scouted out the rest of the complex, destroying many similar rooms. There were never any guards. However, near the end of their sabotage mission, they found something interesting. They observed from a catwalk that there was a large box, one that looked like it was intended to store battlesuits, surrounded by five battlesuits that were acting as guards.

Naruto raised his sniper rifle, but Yaro told him to wait. They were talking.

"Damned Uchiha. Thinking he's so superior to us. I've half a mind to kill him now, while he's in that chamber."

"Yeah, but then Orochimaru'll kill you. Just wait. He'll be out of our hair soon enough."  
"Just as soon as his stinking Curse output enhancer is done being upgraded."

"Ha, I hope his brain gets fried. Most of them do. Not many survive the upgrade to level two."

"I wish he'd hurry up. We need to abandon this facility before Kumogakure sends someone."

Naruto heard Yaro pull the charge lever on his sniper rifle. He fired, and the battlesuit in the middle took the hit in the torso. Lightning came out of its sides as it fell over, hitting the two next to it, and then lightning came from them, too, hitting the last two. All five fell to the ground.

"Finish off the two on the left." Yaro replaced his magazine, which Naruto noted was filled with blue rounds, with another one. They finished off the last four battlesuits.

"What was that?"

"The Kumogakure Sniper Special. My dad invented it. Makes it a lot easier for a sniper to take out a squad of 'suits when their systems are totally fried."

Naruto nodded to himself. "We need to get Sasuke out of here. He's got a nice bounty on his-"

The door to the crate blew open, and Sasuke's 'suit came out. It was practically glowing purple.

"The hell? What happened to my guards?"

Two rounds were pumped into him by Yaro.

"That's too bad. That output enhancer made him a bit tough for either of us to try to take him alive."  
"So you killed him? Whatever happened to your sniper special?"

"And risk him noticing us while I put that magazine back in? I think not."

All of a sudden, Sasuke was right next to them.

"So it was you two pricks who killed the guards, and tried to kill me? I'll have to teach you a lesson."

Naruto and Yaroshin were briefly stunned by his incredible speed, but they managed to react and move before Sasuke could spit either of them on his sword.

_Lucky that our stealth systems are on, _thought Naruto, _or else he'd know it was me. _

"Yaro! Let's get out of here!"

"Right behind you!"

Naruto went in to punch Sasuke's suit, but that proved to be a feint. He actually tried to sweep his legs out from under him. Sasuke, however, anticipated this and tripped Naruto instead. Yaro kicked Sasuke back off of the catwalk they had been perched on.

The two got up and ran as fast as the pistons in their battlesuits' legs would let them. They tried to trace their way back to the entrance, but in their haste they quickly became lost.

"Yaro, tell me you have a schematic of the complex!"

"No, but I've been piecing one together. We should be somewhere around the west edge of the building."

"All right, let's make a hole in the wall and try to get outside."

"There you two are!"

They spun around to see Sasuke's suit once more, still glowing purple.

"You two have destroyed this entire complex. I'm going to kill you for that!"

He charged forward. Yaro turned around, and a panel raised up from the right arm of his 'suit. It fired a container of green liquid. When the canister hit the wall he shot at, it broke and spilled its acidic contents all over, melting right through the metal wall. Light shone in from the battlesuit-sized hole in the wall.

_This had better work, _thought Naruto. He tried to start up the Rasengan. The drill formed, and then Sasuke crashed into him. The distraction caused him to lose focus on the amount of power he wanted, and the power waned. When he reapplied the power to the weapon, it spun.

All of a sudden, it made sense to Naruto. _I have to vary the power levels! When I apply high power plasma, it pushes the low power plasma to the side! _He began to do that, and the drill spun menacingly. Naruto attempted to plunge his plasma-coated fist into Sasuke's chest, but his opponent dodged out of the way. Before Naruto finished his attack, Yaro pushed Sasuke back, and Naruto bored a hole in the enemy 'suit, taking off its arm. The arm of its operator was gone as well.

Sasuke fell to the ground, stunned at the pain and how it was amplified by his nervous system working overtime. Naruto and Yaro escaped into the night.

* * *

"We also destroyed all of the equipment and viral containers. No undead remained in the base that we could see, and the only living being in there is Sasuke Uchiha, who was in a state too powerful for us to capture or safely kill."

"Judging by your report, Yaroshin," said the Raikage, "You ran when the Uchiha was stunned by having his arm removed by the Red Hunter. Why did you not finish him then?"

"He had some form of EOE active. It was like no output enhancer I have ever seen. He moved faster than the Red Hunter in a hurry. I believe we both were too leery of the consequences of killing him during its activation. It may have caused an explosion to par with the detonation of an antimatter engine, or worse."

"I understand. At any rate, good work. The presence of Solanum as a bio-weapon has been eliminated. The threat of the world's zombification is no more. You and the Red Hunter shall have the credits transferred to your accounts."

"Thank you, sir," the two mentioned pilots said in unison.

"Also, Red Hunter, feel free to take your mechanic home. She's been leeching us dry of weapons and battlesuit parts."

Naruto laughed. "I can do that, sir." He turned to Yaroshin. "Nice working with you, Yaro." He extended his hand.

Yaro took it. "My friends call me Yar-Yo."

* * *

"I hear you've been a busy little bee."

"...Well, kinda. I bought a few things."

"Yeah? What constitutes a few?"

"...You have to walk Battlesuit K home. There isn't enough room in the trailer."

"Tsumeki! That's my hard-earned cash you're spending!"

"Sorry! It's not like I can return anything, I've already started modifying them!"

Naruto sighed. "Whatever. Let's just go."

* * *

**Took me long enough. Review please!**


End file.
